Previews: MIDNIGHT COMPANY 2023 SEASON at Midnight Company

The Midnight Company announces it 2023 five-show season that includes two world premiere productions. The Season opens on March 1, 2023 with the world premiere production of JUST ONE LOOK based on the life and career of Linda Ronstadt at The Blue Strawberry. Midnight Company continues its season with THE ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS OF LEONARD KELLY at The Kranzberg Black Box May 4th -20th, THE YEARS at The Chapel July 13th-29th, and the world premiere of YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU at The Blue Strawberry July 26th - August 9th. Midnight Company closes its season with a production of THE LION IN WINTER at the .ZACK October 5th-21st.

JUST ONE LOOK runs Wednesdays March 1, 8 and 15, 2023 at The Blue Strawberry and is based on the music and career of Linda Ronstadt who ruled the pop charts and filled stadiums with concert tours in the 1970's and 1980's. She was the reigning Rock Goddess of the era. Her awareness of, and work for social justice, evolved as a result of her relationship with California Governor Jerry Brown. Her career evolved into new genres when she starred in the Gilbert and Sullivan musical THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE on Broadway. She followed that up with an album titled The Great American Songbook preforming classics with The Nelson Riddle Orchestra. Kelly Howe will portray Linda and sing her sensational songs. In St. Louis, Howe has been seen in The Who's TOMMY at Stray Dog Theatre, THE Aphra Behn FESTIVAL at Sate, SWEAT at The Black Rep and RODNEY'S WIFE at MidnightCompany. Joe Hanrahan, Midnight's Artistic Director, wrote the show will direct. He will also appear as a veteran rock journalist who finally gets to interview his unrequited love, Linda Ronstadt. Miranda Jagels Felix will Assistant Direct. She directed Kelly Howe for THE Aphra Behn FESTIVAL at Sate, assistant directed and performed in THE GOOD SHIP ST. LOUIS with Upstream, performed in HAG-SEED with Prison Performing Arts, and will assistant direct UNCLE VANYA at The Actors Studio in February.

The season continues at the Kranzberg Black Box, May 4-20, with THE ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS OF LEONARD PELKEY by Celeste Lecesne. Joe Hanrahan will portray several characters in the one-man show that is driven primarily by a detective in a small New Jersey blue collar fishing town. Leonard Pelkey is a flamboyant teenage who has gone missing. The investigation into his disappearance involves the townsfolk who Leonard has positively impacted and one of his classmates who threatened and bullied him. The New York Post called the show "intimate and affectionate, about the difference one person can make." The Los Angeles Times said it "shines with humanity" and the New York Times said the show "leaves you beaming with joy." Playwright Celeste Lecesne formed The Trevor Project, the world's largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning) young people. Midnight will work to build awareness of The Trevor Project with the play and the press surrounding it. The show will be directed by KEATING. She most recently directed BRONTE SISTERS HOUSE PARTY at Sate Theater Company. .

Next, Midnight will present THE YEARS by Cindy Lou Johnson, July 13-29 at The Chapel. Joe Hanrahan will direct this delicate, penetrating play that takes two sets of young cousins through 15 years of love, marriage, divorce, death and the mysteries and majesties of life. Hanrahan directed this play several years ago for the Orthwein Theatre Company. Reviewing for the Post-Dispatch at the time, Gerry Kowarsky said "THE YEARS is an exceptional work. Many plays deal with the pains of family relationships, but few have as much insight, pathos and humor as THE YEARS does in its current production." Most recently, Hanrahan directed Midnight Company's 2022 shows RODNEY'S WIFE and ST. LOUIS WOMAN.

Midnight returns to The Blue Strawberry, Wednesdays July 26, August 2 and 9, with YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU, a very personal tribute to Judy Garland, written/directed by Hanrahan, starring Jennelle Gilreath Owens. Singing Garland's classic songs, Owens will celebrate Garland's incredible music and legendary career while relating her own artistic journey, including the inspiration and musical lessons she learned from Garland. Owens has been seen recently in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF at the Kirkwood Theatre Guild and in THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME with The Hawthorne Players. Hanrahan said "Jim Dolan of The Blue Strawberry and I have discussed incorporating a theatrical elements into classic cabaret shows with this production and the Linda Ronstadt show." Dolan said "Blue Strawberry is excited to be working with Joe Hanrahan and Midnight to present these shows. As a longtime fan of Joe and Midnight's work, we are honored to be a part of these productions."

The season concludes with THE LION IN WINTER by James Goldman, directed by Tom Kopp, playing October 5-21 at the .ZACK. The play was a massive Broadway hit and was followed by a film version starring Katherine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole. It is set at Christmastime in 1183 in a castle in Chinon, France, as King Henry II attempts to manipulate his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. The New York Times called it "a work of intelligence, astringent wit, and much theatrical skill," while the Los Angeles Times described its "marvelously articulate language, with humor that bristles and burns." Lavonne Byers will portray Eleanor of Aquitaine. Byers' numerous stage appearances include CABARET and SWEENEY TODD at Stray Dog Theatre, GOLDA'S BALCONY at the New Jewish Theatre, and THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA at the Tennessee Williams Festival. Joe Hanrahan will play Henry II. Tom Kopp's directing credits include EVERY BRILLIANT THING for R-S, EQUIVOCATION, GREAT FALLS and MEMORY OF WATER with the West End Players and TITUS ANDRONICUS and JULIUS CAESAR at the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival.

For more on Midnight Company's 2023 season visit their website at midnightcompany.com.

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